Differentiated instruction is an educational approach that helps teachers identify how to teach students with different learning styles and various skill levels in the same class.
Curriculum compacting is a differentiation strategy that is extremely beneficial to many gifted and high ability students. It is a process by which students are pre-assessed to determine what parts of the curriculum they have already mastered. When those areas of knowledge and skills are identified, these students are not required to complete the grade-level work. Instead, they work on alternate activities.
Curriculum compacting is a particularly important strategy for gifted and other high-ability students because they often come to school already knowing much of the grade level material. If these students are not challenged with new or different content, they waste time in school, do not learn important study skills, and do not grow as learners.
Cooperative learning is termed as a learning way in which the students learn in groups. In this type of learning the students interact with each other and build upon their school relationships, which is different from the traditional way of teaching. The main idea behind cooperative learning is to teach the students to be a functional part of a group so that they have grouped responsibilities as well as individual responsibilities. This type of learning not only increases the study skills of a student but also develops the communication skills. In order to understand deeply the cooperative learning one must explore the main theories of this type of learning.
Scaffolding is the assistance (parameters, rules or suggestions) a teacher gives a student in a learning situation. Scaffolding allows the student to have help with only the skills that are new or beyond her ability.
"A set of training wheels on a bicycle is a classic example of scaffolding. It is adjustable and temporary, providing the young rider with the support he or she needs while learning to ride a two-wheeler. Without an aid of this sort, the complex tasks of learning to pedal, balance, and steer all at one time would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for many youngsters. This scaffold---training wheels---allows the learners to accomplish a goal, riding a bicycle successfully, and then to happily pedal his or her way into the wider world." ~Michael F. Graves, Bonnie Graves, and Sheldon Braaten, "Scaffolded Reading Experiences for Inclusive Classes Scaffolding can also include breaking a large task into smaller parts, verbalizing cognitive processes, working in peer groups, or prompting. As the student begins to work independently, the teacher removes all or some of the scaffolding.
Tiering is an instructional approach designed to have students of differing readiness levels work with essential knowledge, understanding, and skills but to do so at levels of difficulty appropriately challenging for them as individuals at a given point in the instructional cycle. To tier an activity or work product:
Clearly establish what students should know, understand, and be able to do as a result of the activity or product assignment.
Select elements to tier.
Develop one activity or product assignment that is interesting and engaging for students, squarely focuses on the stated learning goals, and requires students to work at a high level of thought.
Design a similar task for struggling learners. The task should make adjustments based on student readiness.
If needed, develop a third, more advanced activity for learners who have already mastered the basic concepts or skills being addressed.
From Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom by Carol-Ann Tomlinson Video - Tiered Instruction
Layered Curriculum
The Layered-Curriculum approach features a 3-layer model that requires students to use higher level thinking skills as they work through the layers.
C Layer : : Basic knowledge, understanding. The student builds on his/her current level of core information. B Layer : : Application or manipulation of the information learned in the C layer. Problem solving or other higher level thinking tasks can be placed here. A Layer : : Critical Thinking and Analysis. This layer requires the highest and most complex thought.
Differentiating Instruction
Differentiated instruction is an educational approach that helps teachers identify how to teach students with different learning styles and various skill levels in the same class.
Differentiation in Action
Differentiated Instruction
Teaching Strategies
Curriculum Compacting
Curriculum compacting is a differentiation strategy that is extremely beneficial to many gifted and high ability students. It is a process by which students are pre-assessed to determine what parts of the curriculum they have already mastered. When those areas of knowledge and skills are identified, these students are not required to complete the grade-level work. Instead, they work on alternate activities.
Curriculum compacting is a particularly important strategy for gifted and other high-ability students because they often come to school already knowing much of the grade level material. If these students are not challenged with new or different content, they waste time in school, do not learn important study skills, and do not grow as learners.
Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning is termed as a learning way in which the students learn in groups. In this type of learning the students interact with each other and build upon their school relationships, which is different from the traditional way of teaching. The main idea behind cooperative learning is to teach the students to be a functional part of a group so that they have grouped responsibilities as well as individual responsibilities. This type of learning not only increases the study skills of a student but also develops the communication skills. In order to understand deeply the cooperative learning one must explore the main theories of this type of learning.
Cooperative Learning Strategies
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is the assistance (parameters, rules or suggestions) a teacher gives a student in a learning situation. Scaffolding allows the student to have help with only the skills that are new or beyond her ability."A set of training wheels on a bicycle is a classic example of scaffolding. It is adjustable and temporary, providing the young rider with the support he or she needs while learning to ride a two-wheeler. Without an aid of this sort, the complex tasks of learning to pedal, balance, and steer all at one time would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for many youngsters. This scaffold---training wheels---allows the learners to accomplish a goal, riding a bicycle successfully, and then to happily pedal his or her way into the wider world." ~Michael F. Graves, Bonnie Graves, and Sheldon Braaten, "Scaffolded Reading Experiences for Inclusive Classes
Scaffolding can also include breaking a large task into smaller parts, verbalizing cognitive processes, working in peer groups, or prompting. As the student begins to work independently, the teacher removes all or some of the scaffolding.
Video - Scaffolding
Tiered Instruction
Tiering is an instructional approach designed to have students of differing readiness levels work with essential knowledge, understanding, and skills but to do so at levels of difficulty appropriately challenging for them as individuals at a given point in the instructional cycle. To tier an activity or work product:
From Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom by Carol-Ann Tomlinson
Video - Tiered Instruction
Layered Curriculum
The Layered-Curriculum approach features a 3-layer model that requires students to use higher level thinking skills as they work through the layers.
C Layer : : Basic knowledge, understanding. The student builds on his/her current level of core information.
B Layer : : Application or manipulation of the information learned in the C layer. Problem solving or other higher level thinking tasks can be placed here.
A Layer : : Critical Thinking and Analysis. This layer requires the highest and most complex thought.
Video - Layered Curriculum #1
Video - Layered Curriculum #2
Video - Layered Curriculum #3
Video - Layered Curriculum #4